1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for deciding a representative color of a color image, and to a method of controlling the operation of this apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In cases where a desired image is to be found among a number of images, color can be utilized as a search key. An image having the color designated as the search key is found from among the number of images. For example, the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-234124 discloses generating a color histogram with regard to a color image, assigning scores to maximal intervals of the color histogram based upon frequency of occurrence, hue, saturation, lightness and position on the image, and outputting one representative color at a time from intervals having high scores. The specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-289242 discloses extracting from an image a representative color that contributes to an impression received by a person, based upon frequency of occurrence of a hue. Accordingly to the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-259539, when image data is reduced in terms of number of colors and displayed as a small number of representative colors, the color reduction is applied to the original image so as not to produce an unnatural appearance.
However, none of these examples of the prior art gives any thought to the adoption of a color that readily leaves an impression on a human being as a representative color.